wildroseA+Barriers


 * BARRIERS DISCUSSION**


 * Please list the results of your facilitated discussion on barriers and restraints to managing change and shift in schools.**
 * What is preventing them from being successful at implementing change?**


 * __Barriers__**
 * Not a lot of barriers in her school. Have administrative support. Need more PD time and manage it more wisely. If this continues, we could get there. Only have 2 hours here and there. No PD model. Faculty meeting is how they deliver PD.
 * Having the available technology at the schools. Got a lot of technology for the 6th grade students but it is not there. Have 4 small buildings. Need to make her more available to the different buildings. - Geography
 * Teach in a small SD in the state with 100 students per grade level. Issue: staffing … not unwillingness on the part of teachers but in a small SD teachers have many preps. They do not have the prep time to manage their schedule let alone integrating technology. Reading apprenticeship momentum at the current climate. This is taking any extra time. Reading apprenticeship is making a difference and reflected in test scores.
 * Small SD grades 7 – 12 with 80 students per grade level. Teachers very receptive to PBL and technology. But there is again an issue with time due to the schedule. Troublesome.
 * Average graduation class is only 50. Smaller yet. Does PD after school. Wears MANY hats. Issue: scheduling. Issue: PD days were wasteful. She is not part of the implementation team. Now all of the PD days are done for the entire year.
 * Has made great stride with individual teachers. Issue: Dictation with IT people have put restrictions. Search for usable images … flickr blocked. In a MS; the PSSA scores have been going up. They want to continue to use the same method. She only has 2 laptop carts with 24 teachers. Students that are the have and have nots. IEP people teach, co-teach, have computer carts and do not have time to learn.
 * First started in the coaching position the were part of a building renovation. Now they are part of school improvement. She does not feel comfortable even asking teachers.
 * Overwhelmed faculty with everything. They do not know what the should prioritize. Each time they have some PD it is always changing. IT good but constantly changing things. Have an ILocker … can pull up school server at home. Tremendous amount of transition. Tell administration.
 * SD is very into technology and very supportive. Issue: During In-service and PD days, they are learning something that is not important to the staff. They are always doing lots of new things and do not allow teachers to plan what they need to plan. Have the network. The issue is time. Standarized testing – all teachers feel frustrated. Teachers feel push, push, push.
 * The administration is on-board with technology. They allowed him to design the PD but there is not enough of it. Issue: How to convince the teachers to try everything; fear of teachers trying this and feeling that they have not accomplished this and
 * Lucky, teachers willing to do things; required PD 7-1/2 years. Problem: the teachers priority is writing; so literacy. Technology is on their own time. Teachers say I have to work on writing but not time to integrate technology. The students might not get the information if they use the technology.
 * Part of my concern would be the PSSA standards and the scores and it is OK to switch to PBL. The administration is supportive of using technology. Have only 45 students per class. Three teachers in each core subject. School board is support as long as it is free to them. Warranties expire and technology needs to be replaced.
 * Administrative expectations and priorities. The talk it and do not required ti!. No carrots on the stick.
 * School board and administrative and support. My current position is not permanent and SB does not have the vision. If the coach goes back into the classroom this will not move forward. If they want to collaborative with other teachers there is no common collaborative time built into their schedule. MS have common team planning but the principal is getting a lot of flack from the school board.
 * I am the only coach K-12. Issue is the lack of a common vision. HS has the technology but does not have . HS teacher should shadow an elementary teacher and vice versa. Idea that PBL needs to be big … but can have a mini-PBL. Shared vision that PBL can be done in less than 2 weeks.
 * PBL does not have to be a 2-week project. Wants to explain to teachers. Wants to be a top scoring school. High stakes testing environment. SD on reading strategies, ELL, DI … does 3 year of these intertwined. Important to show that ALL of these things do mess together. The problem is because we are doing so many things, teachers do not know what to focus on the most.
 * Our teachers are overwhelmed. They a new student information system. New reading curriculum. Administration does not show a lot of consistency. Last year the issue was Moodle. Why start web pages on the SIS if it is going to change next week. She is the 3rd coach in her SD. They are a Cohort 1.(Missy)
 * Concerns: the core of the problem is that the PD is for the wrong reasons. They offer PD package in the form of money $$$. The PD was not job embedded. At the end was you get the product … the technology. Part of it is that this is my 3rd year and I would like to be introduced to the staff and work with more than one dept. Ultimately is teacher by-in. They ask how much money do I get. Union / contractual issues.
 * Struggles in PPS. She has 3 different schools. Being with 20 teachers in 1 HS it is hard to be with them when she is supposed to be at another school. Curriculum lesson plans are written for them and they must be on the same page at the same time.
 * Urban – rural SD. Biggest district but barrier is that we have a problem with culture. The IT Dept. I cannot get the support that I need from the IT dept. It is a cultural problem. Setting up computers, etc. with only 9 people. See the coach as working for IT and nothing but trouble because they can never get support. Issue: communication failure. Technician say that all of the tech say that the teachers are always complaining.
 * A lot of teachers who have something new want to do it. Some teachers are really resistant to doing something differently. Need to move teachers … actually thought out the rest of the year it will be better because if the students are engaged they will remember. Priorities of the SD of what needs fixed when! What is the formula for priorities? With 3 techs in 12 buildings they are always in triage mode.


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